How can you not love Major Counter-Strike? The twists and turns, the highs and lows, there’s nothing greater than the bloodbath of a Major and its RMR events.

Day three delivered a huge surprise with the elimination of the previous Major winners after they switched out a player mid event, but the final day potentially provided an even greater shock.

So, where better to start than with that shock result?

Falling against their former team

FaZe came into the RMR hot off securing their Intel Grand Slam with a win at ESL Pro League Season 17. They started the event brightly too, with wins against Apeks and OG setting them up for a 2-0 match and a chance against NAVI for a Legends spot.

Things didn’t go to plan, however, as npl stepped up to pull off his best performance in a NAVI shirt and send the Ukrainian team through to the Legends stage.

From there, it all went from bad to worse for the international squad. A loss against unsigned underdogs Bad News Eagles would see them plummet into the gauntlet of a 2-2 match up, one that would see them face MOUZ, the former home of both ropz and karrigan.

The first map, Nuke, was characterised by an underperformance from the Grand Slam champions. One of the best Nuke teams in the world, they struggled as both torszi and xertioN stepped up to claim the advantage for their team.

xertioN remained in top form on Ancient, but as the rest of his team dropped off, FaZe’s star trio of ropz, broky, and Twistzz showed why they are so feared to bring the tie level.

The decider on Inferno saw broky maintain his level and rain come into the fold. But ultimately it wasn’t enough to stop the three-map onslaught of xertioN, and, as torszi rediscovered his level from map one and MOUZ took the map and series with a 19-15 scoreline.

MOUZ have now qualified for the BLAST.tv Paris Major Challengers Stage, while FaZe will have another opportunity to qualify at the Last Chance Qualifier after the conclusion of European RMR B.

Standing-in to the Major

Despite being a highly ranked team, not much was expected of OG coming into the RMR. With niko stepping in as IGL and following a string of disappointing results, many fans and experts believed that the team would fail to advance from the event.

Despite this, they found themselves in the 2-2 bracket, and with a favourable match up against a Falcons team who were looking to become the only French team in the nations first Major in CS:GO.

A strong performance from FlameZ across the two maps was enough for OG, who won the series in two with 16-8 and 16-13 score lines.

While the French hearts may currently be broken, they will have a chance to mend them when they play in the Last Chance Qualifier alongside FaZe.

A Major return

Apeks entered the RMR as first-time competitors, although some of their stars are no strangers to playing in Majors.

Both jkaem and STYKO are former Major stalwarts, thanks to their time with other international rosters such as G2, Renegades, and MOUZ.

The pair have long been grinding with their Apeks squadron, and after many roster changes, that grind has paid off.

Their opponents in their 2-2 game, B8, had fallen down the 2-2 bracket after previously being 2-0. Sadly for them, their dreams of appearing at the final Major of CS:GO would not yet be realised. Apeks won the series 2-0 with jkaem rolling back the years to put in a star performance and take his team all the way to Paris.

Apeks will make their Major debut in the Challengers stage while B8 will join Falcons and FaZe in the LCQ.

Legends decided

In the previous Major cycle, GamerLegion captured the hearts of many fans as they eliminated G2 from the RMR.

Bad News Eagles have also earned themselves fans at previous Majors, having qualified for the previous three despite being an unsigned team.

A match between the two teams would decide which of the two would advance to the Legends Stage and which would enter the Major in the Challengers Stage.

gxx- continued his strong RMR as he and juanflatroo dominated the young international squadron, propelling Bad News Eagles to becoming Major Legends once more.